November 22, 2012: The Butt Fumble

November 22, 2012: The New York Jets have had many embarrassing moments in their history. Most of them have unfolded before a local audience. Butt... this one happened in front of a national audience, on a national holiday.

In 2009 and 2010, under head coach Rex Ryan and quarterback Mark Sanchez, the Jets reached the AFC Championship Game, including beating their arch-rivals, the cheating New England Patriots, in the 2010-11 Playoffs. But in 2011, they faltered, finishing 8-8. And in 2012, they got off to a 4-6 start, including a loss to the Patriots in Foxboro.

Jets vs. Patriots had become a New York Tri-State Area vs. New England rivalry to, well, rival those of Yankees vs. Red Sox, Knicks vs. Celtics and Rangers vs. Bruins. The fans of each team hated each other, and the players didn't much like each other, either. And now, they were going to play at MetLife Stadium, at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, Bergen County, New Jersey in front of a nationwide audience on Thanksgiving Night.

At the end of the 1st quarter, it was 0-0. Jet fans were thinking they had a chance. But that chance evaporated in the 2nd quarter. Shonn Greene fumbled, and the Patriots recovered. Tom Brady threw an 83-yard touchdown pass to Shane Vereen.

Then came the ignominious moment. Sanchez took the ball, tried to run the ball up the middle, and ended up running up the middle of guard Brandon Moore, crashing into his rear end, and fumbling the ball. Steve Gregory picked it up, and ran it 32 yards for a touchdown. It was 14-0 Patriots, and, with social media already a factor, it quickly became known as "The Butt Fumble."

Steve Gregory (28), celebrating his Thanksgiving hors d'oeuvre

with Tom Brady (12) and Vince Wilfork (75)

People not familiar with the Jets could have presumed that things couldn't get any worse. People who were familiar with the Jets knew that it can always get worse. Joe McKnight took the opening kickoff, was hit by Devin McCourty, and fumbled. Julian Edelman picked it up, and returned it for a touchdown.

It was 21-0, and, as the great New York sportscaster Warner Wolf could have said, "Turn your sets off right there." The final score was Patriots 49, Jets 19.

The Jets finished the season 6-10. Once known as "The Sanchise," Sanchez remained the Jets' starting quarterback for the rest of the 2012 season, but missed the entire 2013 season with a shoulder injury. He remained in the NFL through the 2018 season, with 4 other teams, playing 17 more games, making 11 starts. Since 2019, the former USC All-American has been part of ESPN's college football coverage.

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November 22, 2012 was a Thursday, and a Thanksgiving. The teams that usually host NFL games on Thanksgiving did so. The Detroit Lions lost to the Houston Texans, 34-31 in overtime at Ford Field. Shayne Graham kicked the winning field goal.

At least the Lions didn't lose to their arch-rivals. The Dallas Cowboys did, falling to the Washington Redskins, 38-31 at Cowboys Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. The stadium is now named AT&T Stadium.

Unusually, there were no college football games played that day. There were high school games, including my alma mater, East Brunswick in Middlesex County, New Jersey, losing to arch-rival Old Bridge, 34-0 at Vince Lombardi Field in Old Bridge.

The NHL team owners had locked the players out, so there were no games scheduled for the night. The NHL and the NBA usually don't play on Thanksgiving, anyway, and the NBA didn't.

January 3, 2010: The Last Game at Giants Stadium

Mark Sanchez with the last game ball

from the last game at Giants Stadium

January 3, 2010: After 34 seasons, the last football game is played at Giants Stadium, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex, in East Rutherford, Bergen County, New Jersey, 8 miles west of Midtown Manhattan.

Oddly, it wasn't the New York Giants who played it. The way the schedule worked out, it was the New York Jets. They had played there since 1984, after leaving Shea Stadium. The Giants and the football team at Rutgers University had played there since it opened in 1976.

The Jets hosted the Cincinnati Bengals, in front of 79,106 fans, braving a game-time temperature of 20 degrees, and a wind-chill factor of 4 degrees above zero. Both teams came into the game with postseason hopes: The Jets were 8-7, and the Bengals were 10-5, having already clinched a berth by winning the AFC North Division. Nevertheless, the Jets were favored by 10 points.

Those odds proved to be insufficient. So often a joke team, the Jets put on one of the best efforts in team history. Thomas Jones scored a touchdown in the 1st quarter, and another in the 4th. The Jets also got 3 field goals from Jay Feely, and a touchdown run each by Brad Smith and Jerricho Cotchery.

The offensive line protected quarterback Mark Sanchez well enough to keep him from being sacked all game long. The Jets were 11-for-18 on 3rd down conversions, and 1-for-1 on 4th down conversions. They had the ball for 41 minutes and 14 seconds. No, Bill Parcells was not their head coach at this point: It was Rex Ryan. And Rex's defense held the Bengals to 72 total yards, and forced 3 turnovers to the Jets' 0.

Final score: Jets 37, Bengals 0. The way the Playoff schedule worked out, the Jets would not have a home game; and the Giants were 8-8, so they missed the Playoffs; so there would be no Playoff game at the Meadowlands this season.

Also the way the Playoff schedule worked out, the Jets played the Bengals again the next week, in Cincinnati. It would have been just like the Jets to follow up a great regular season victory with a Playoff disaster. Instead, they won, 24-14. It should be pointed out that the Bengals did not win a Playoff game between the 1990 and 2021 seasons, so they have a record of being snakebit that rivals that of the Jets'.

Gang Green then went to San Diego and beat the Chargers. In a span of 9 days, the Jets had won as many Playoff games as they did in Joe Namath's entire 12-year tenure with them. But they ended up losing the AFC Championship Game, away to the Indianapolis Colts.

So often, the Jets felt like second-class citizens at Giants Stadium, to the point where they negotiated half-ownership with the Giants of its replacement, eventually named MetLife Stadium. But in their last game at Giants Stadium, they acquitted themselves better than the Giants usually did.

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January 3, 2010 was a Sunday. These other games were played in the NFL that day:

* The New York Giants not only went out missing the Playoffs, they went out ignominiously, losing to the Minnesota Vikings, 44-7 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. This was the last NFL game for Giant punter Jeff Feagles, his 352nd, and his record 352nd in a row. I have a separate entry for that event.

* The Carolina Panthers beat the New Orleans Saints, 23-10 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.

* The Atlanta Falcons beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 20-10 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Miami Dolphins, 30-24 at Land Shark Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in the Miami suburb of Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 24-0 at Cowboys Stadium (now AT&T Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Houston Texans beat the New England Patriots, 34-27 at Reliant Stadium (now NRG Stadium) in Houston.

* The Buffalo Bills beat the Indianapolis Colts, 30-7 at Ralph Wilson Stadium (formerly Rich Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.

* The Cleveland Browns beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 23-17 at Cleveland Browns Stadium (now FirstEnergy Stadium).

* The Chicago Bears beat the Detroit Lions, 37-23 at Ford Field in Detroit.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the St. Louis Rams, 28-6 at the Edward Jones Dome (now the Dome at America's Center) in St. Louis.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Denver Broncos, 44-24 at Invesco Field (now Empower Stadium) in Denver.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Arizona Cardinals, 33-7 at University of Phoenix Stadium (now State Farm Stadium) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.

* The San Diego Chargers beat the Washington Redskins, 23-20 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.

* The Baltimore Ravens beat the Oakland Raiders, 21-13 at the Oakland Coliseum.

* The Tennessee Titans beat the Seattle Seahawks, 17-13 at Century Link Field (now Lumen Field) in Seattle.

There was no Monday Night Football game that week. The college bowl games had not yet run their course, but there were none scheduled for January 3.

There were 5 games played in the NBA that day:

* The New York Knicks beat the Indiana Pacers, 132-89 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Toronto Raptors beat the San Antonio Spurs, 91-86 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.

* The Charlotte Bobcats beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 91-88 at the Quicken Loans Arena (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Denver Nuggets, 108-105 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.

* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Dallas Mavericks, 131-96 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.

There were 4 games played in the NHL that day:

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Montreal Canadiens, 1-0 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

* The Ottawa Senators beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 7-4 at Scotiabank Place (now the Canadian Tire Centre) in Ottawa.

* The Florida Panthers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-2 at the BankAtlantic Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.

* And the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Anaheim Ducks, 5-2 at the United Center in Chicago.

Also, Arsenal beat West Ham United, 2-1 at Upton Park in the East End in London, in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup.